Feel free to call me Izzy!
I bought my first ukulele, a bright yellow Kala dolphin soprano, in September 2020 during the height of the pandemic. I didn't connect right away with the instrument--I strummed to hard and it took too long to change cords. I wanted to play music NOW!
After it sitting on the shelf for a few months I picked it up with more interest. I started as a pure strummer with Doctor Uke's tabs, which are original and fun! I was very nervous to start fingerstyle at all, but eventually as my passion picked up speed I got into Al Wood's tabs at Ukulele Hunt and now mainly Yujiro Nakajima's tabs at Ukulele Time. I still do a lot of sight reading instead of memorizing because it feeds my passion and doesn't feel like a chore or studying. This makes people angry sometimes. But it keeps me playing hours every day! But also I don't have many songs memorized which can be embarrassing
I firmly believe you cannot be really good at something until you have been thoroughly bad at something. Please enjoy my documentation of this process!
“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.” ― Maurice Sendak